Regarding Kiroku Hanai's article: I don't know whether he is aware of how offensive it is from an American point of view for people in Japan to ask that the United States apologize for using the atomic bomb to end the war with Japan.
The article condemns the U.S. for dropping the second bomb on Nagasaki, but what the author doesn't ask is, why, after the first bomb was dropped, didn't the Japanese government immediately surrender (as this would have prevented the dropping of the second bomb)? The Japanese government of the time is as much at fault for the second bomb being dropped as the U.S.
If the bomb had not been used, would not an eventual land invasion of Japan have dragged the war on longer, likely terrorized the Japanese citizenry, and caused great numbers of Japanese and American lives to be lost? Pardon me for being so blunt, but Japan was the aggressor in this case, having attacked Pearl Harbor. Does Hanai think that the U.S should apologize for using a weapon that was able to bring such a war to a swifter conclusion? How dare Hanai compare that justifiable action to that of the fanatical terrorists of 9/11?
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